Somewhat Authentic
by Eileithyia-ya
Summary: The break up of Robin and Franky causes her to look for a new place to live. University AU. Angsty Frobin, but predominantly LawNa. Rated M, because it isn't M right now, but it definitely will end up being.
1. A Friend In Need

**Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece and all it's many awesome characters.**

* * *

**Chapter I : A Friend In Need**

"We all know the freezing temperature of water is stated to be zero degrees Celsius, but water can remain liquid at much lower temperatures than this if there are no freezing nuclei present. Any substance that is a liquid at a temperature below its normal freezing temperature is said to be supercooled, and supercooled water is common in the atmosphere!"

The gleeful expression on the professors face was starting to annoy Nami again. She was thoroughly enjoying the meteorology course she had chosen, but professor Haredas' enthusiasm was a bit too much sometimes, especially last thing on a Friday afternoon.

He would often stroke his long white beard while he talked, eyes shut softly, lips curled into a smile. It was almost as if he was reminiscing about some past love affair. Sometimes his passion for the subject was endearing, almost, other times it was just plain creepy. Still, nothing was worse than his shining eyes and the toothy smile he would beam to his class as he handed out assignments. Which he had yet to do, thankfully.

Nami cast her eyes around the small auditorium, towards her fellow listeners. She noticed that most of the audience had become quite fidgety, often shifting in their seats to find some comfort. She twisted her slender wrist to check the time. _15:57_ she was able to make out once she moved her gold bangle away from its face. The bracelet always seemed to fix itself in front of her watch, blocking her view of the time, but it was a leaving gift from her sister Nojiko when Nami went away to university, so she never took it off.

"Supercooling is a particularly important process within clouds, where in the absence of freezing nuclei liquid water droplets may exist at temperatures as low as minus forty degrees Celsius."

Professor Haredas was interrupted then as his pupils decided it was the end of the lecture, and started to rise from their seats.

"We'll continue the topic of supercooling on Monday morning, and then move on to latent heat. You should finish collecting data tomorrow for your Measuring Precipitation project, so I want a rough copy of the first part of your assignments on my desk Monday morning. That's all quantitative data, a brief analysis, and notes on experimental and/or random uncertainties!" The old professor shouted as the auditorium emptied. He quickly turned to enter his office in the far left corner, his long blue robes trailing on the floor behind him.

Nami lazily gathered up her things, she was in no rush to get home and continue her assignments, even though she did have three to work on for Monday. Right now, she just needed a break, and some food. She slipped her hand into the front of her tan leather bag, and pulled out her phone to quickly send a text message.

**To Sanji-kun:** _Are you working tonight?_

She put the strap of her bag over her head, and scooped up her books in her left arm. As she got up from her seat, Nami heard the buzz of her phone vibrating against her keys. She quickly took her phone from her bag, excited by the prospect of food, only to freeze at the auditorium doors, a little nauseated by the message she received.

**From Sanji-kun:** _Not tonight, Nami-san. Do you love me now, is that why you messaged me? Do you need to see me? I will come and prepare a meal of love for you!~ 3 xXx_

She rolled her eyes at his pathetic, love sick reply. "Does he ever give up?"

"Who?" A familiar voice grunted. She held up her index finger as she began to text a reply.

**To Sanji-kun:** _I'm having dinner with Kid. Some other time._

Nami looked up at the enormous man before her as she slipped her phone away. Eustass Kid was enormous in height, and in muscle, and was eternally in her debt.

The brute had flaming red hair, which he styled to make it appear as though his head was aflame. He was pale skinned, with eyes the colour of maple syrup. His thin lips were unnaturally dark, stained by his favourite beverage, she presumed.

In her previous year, Nami had taken a class on Global Warming. For one of the modules she was required to take a few lectures on Electromagnetism, to understand how the solar flares have an effect on the Earth and its atmosphere. It was in these lectures that she met Eustass Kid. The brash young man had apparently taken a liking to her aggressive attitude, and had never been too far away since then.

"That was Sanji-kun. I told him we are having dinner, so don't say anything to the contrary!" Nami said as she began to make her way home.

"Why should I listen to you?" Kid shouted after her in a defiant tone.

Nami turned round and marched up to him, making Kid fully aware that she was incensed. "How much do you owe me?" She glared at him, hoping he'd have the balls to anger her further so she'd have an excuse to increase his debt.

"Actually, I need your help." He confessed, suddenly looking a little awkward.

She turned on her heels and quickly walked away. "Maybe once we are even, then you can ask me for favours."

She heard him growl in response before chasing after her. "It _is_ for school." He pleaded.

"Then, definitely no." Nami said as she continued to walk. "You're studying advanced electrodynamics. How the hell am I supposed to help you? I don't have time. I've got three assignments to be in on Monday, and I'd like a bit of a weekend if I can have one."

"I'll pay you." Kid shouted after he'd given up trying to keep up with her pace.

She stopped right away at his offer. 'Damn right you'd pay me.' Nami thought to herself. "What is the assignment?"

"It's on photons and radiation." There was an uneasy tone to his voice that said he knew Nami was going to object.

Nami turned to face him, and opened her mouth to speak as he cut her off. "You're good at that stuff. You picked it up quicker than me. I'll pay you up front! And I'll be you body guard if you need one."

His last offer was definitely worth considering. As intelligent as he was, Kid was still the leader of a notorious gang, thankfully his three boorish followers weren't currently with him. Almost half the university believed he was a Mafia heir of some sort, and his friends were his bodyguards. It was their ridiculous code names that did it.

"When is it for?" Nami asked, thinking of all the ways she could manipulate him to her advantage.

"End of semester." He mumbled.

"Fine. I'll let you know when I have time." She promised and she continued her journey home.

* * *

Nami lived in an off campus apartment just five minutes away from the university. She lived with her friend, Vivi. The pair roomed together in their first year, and have shared ever since. Vivi is a slender girl with long sky blue hair, and dark brown eyes. Her major area of study was International Politics, making her an understanding person, but not a push over.

When there wasn't an on-campus party, their accommodation was usually the venue their friends chose for a shindig. It was a rather generously sized two bedroomed apartment, with both rooms having an en suit. There was a shared four pieced bathroom, with a walk-in shower and a large bath. It had a large living room, and a kitchen big enough to house a table with four chairs.

The flat was luxurious, and more than big enough for the pair of them. Vivi's father was an ambassador to some country that Nami couldn't remember the name of, and he had insisted that Vivi had a comfortable living space for her final year of study. She only accepted his offer when he agreed it would be alright for Nami to live with her.

The moment Nami got back to her apartment, she closed the door behind her, and leant her head back against it. She was tired, and hungry, and had too much to do. Nami's mind had stopped functioning coherently due to lack of sustenance, and she was now more than a little light headed. Thankfully she had the apartment to herself for the weekend, so she would definitely finish her assignments.

Nami walked in to her room and dumped her books and her bag on her bed. She then went to the kitchen to fill the kettle. She was so hungry she opted to have pasta for dinner. Just pasta, she didn't even salt the water it was boiled in.

After her meal, and a much welcomed cup of coffee, Nami sat down at her deck to start her work. She had a paper to write on plate tectonics and ocean floor spreading for Geology. She was actually quite looking forward to that assignment, so she decided to do it last, to ensure the other two got finished.

Nami needed to wait another two hours before she could take her measurement of precipitation for her meteorology project, so she reluctantly grabbed her books on marine ecosystems. She had been putting off continuing to work on her paper about the biodiversity of coral reefs. It had been three weeks since she last looked at it, she dreaded it, and needed to finish that one first.

A clap of thunder snapped Nami's eyes to the clock. _20:14._ It read, she was meant to take a reading fifteen minutes ago! She quickly got up, grabbed her keys, a ruler, and her coat, and ran to the front lawn where her containers were.

The rain was cold, loud and heavy. Her coat offered her barely any protection from the storm. She bent down so her experiment was at her eye level. "67mm." She noted out loud. Then her attention was quickly drawn away to the saturated figure that collapsed on the lawn in front of her.

"Nami." She whimpered as she covered her mouth. Her words were barely audible over the lashing rain.

"What's happened?" Nami asked, suddenly noticing the suitcases next to her friend.

"I've left him, Nami. I had to." The raven haired woman sobbed, wrapping her arms around the neck of her friend.

Nami frowned with compassion. It hurt to see her so upset. "Come inside, Robin." She ordered as she picked up a suitcase, and helped her friend to her feet.

* * *

**This will be a LawNa fic' :) at some point … **

**This is the AU fic that's mentioned in my profile. I'm still not sure where exactly this will go, but I want to write it while I complete the plot for my dark fic.**

**And I promise to finish, and continue working on everything else too. **

**19th August 2014**


	2. Moving Forward

**Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece and all its characters. **

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**Chapter II : Moving Forward**

Nami dropped Robin's suitcase the moment they got through her door, then turned her attention to her crying friend. "What happened?"

"I just couldn't-" Robin blubbered, then quickly began to apologize. "I tried to call you. I didn't mean to barge in on you."

"Don't be daft, you're not barging in." Nami explained as she took Robin's coat from off her shoulders and hung it off the shower head in the bathroom. She left her own coat in the bath, then grabbed a couple of clean towel so they could dry themselves. "I'm sorry, I left my phone on silent, and hidden in my bag so it didn't distract me while I was studying."

"Shall I leave so you can continue?"

Nami sent her a pointed look. She knew Robin was obviously distraught from leaving Franky, but that question was a little ridiculous.

Nami marched her friend into the kitchen and sat her at the table. She decided a hot drink was definitely in order, and a stiff one, too. So Nami made them both a large mug of coffee and grabbed her bottle of Cointreau from the top shelf of one of the cupboards. "It's all I have." She apologized, though Robin was clearly happy to drink anything alcoholic at that point.

"So?" Nami prompted when their hot drinks were ready.

Robin took a deep breath before she began to speak, and swallowed her measure of Cointreau. "I couldn't sit back and watch, Nami." She said as she looked up with tears pooling in her eyes. "All he talks about is how his Bio-mechanical research isn't enough to earn him a Nobel Prize, that he need a human test subject."

Nami quickly handed Robin a tissue before she hung her head as the tears ran down her face. Then refilled her drink. "He is going to experiment on himself!" She bawled.

"You can't be serious." Nami said with an air of despondency, hugging her friend who continued to weep.

"He said other winners have done it in the past, like that makes it okay! He might have convinced himself that that is a good enough reason, but he can't convince me. I can't pretend I'm okay with it. I know it is his dream, so I can't force him to give up, but I also can't stay with him while he does that to himself." Robin explained, swallowing hard and whipping her tears away. "I love him, but watching him do that to himself will destroy me."

"I know." Nami said, offering an understanding smile. "What are you going to do?" She asked, unable to keep the torment from her voice.

"Get drunk." Robin laughed briefly, following it up with a loud sniff, and a mouthful of Cointreau. "Can I stay here for a couple of days, just until I work something out?" She requested.

"Of course. Vivi is on a field trip at the moment, and won't be back until Tuesday. You can use her room until then. I'll text her and let her know, but I'm sure she won't mind."

An appreciative smile flashed across her lips as she offered her thanks. "Do you mind if I just take a hot bath, and we'll drink later?"

"Go for it. It'll give me chance to finish my paper. I'm almost done." Nami said with relief.

She went back to her room, and Robin entered the apartment's communal bathroom. Nami knew her friend wanted a bath to lament the end of her ten year marriage. As if the steaming hot water could burn away the pain of her loss, but who was she to argue, everyone deals with things differently, and this was Robin's way.

She reached for her bag to send Vivi a text message. Her screen displayed one missed call from Robin. Two missed calls from Sanji, and seven text messages from him. She breathed an exasperated sign before opening them.

After her brain registered the words 'shitty bastard', Nami gave up on reading the rest of the messages from him. She didn't need to read message after message from him complaining about one of her friends. Especially one he wasn't even well acquainted with.

**To Vivi:** Hiya. Sorry, I know you are really busy, but just wanted to let you know that Robin is here, and will be staying in your room while you are away. Hope that is okay. x

Nami was sure that Vivi wouldn't mind. Whenever she was asked for favours, she was always willing to help, and would do so with an air of fun and charming naivete. It was the only time that people could guess Vivi was younger than the rest of the group. She had been a bright student, and skipped two years of school.

The redhead started work again on her biodiversity paper again, but her mind soon strayed to her friend. She had met Robin when she started University. Robin was the librarian there, in charge of the science and history departments. Just over a year ago she became the curator at the Ohara Museum.

Robin was also smiling happily, emitting a serene beauty that captured the attention of many of the male students, and some of the female ones. She always spoke in soft tones, so elegant and warm. Nami was truly shocked to learn of the woman morbid nature, but it made her more approachable, more real, more human.

It was hard for Nami to see Robin as she was now. She fully understood her reasons for leaving Franky, but hoped she would be back to somewhere near her usual self soon. It was also difficult to imagine what Franky would be like. He is known as being an eccentric lecturer and researcher who fell in love with the librarian. Due to her closeness with Robin, he was always open and kind, and acted fatherly towards Nami. She hoped it could continue.

* * *

With a sigh of relief Nami finished her paper. 'One down, two to go.' She merrily thought to herself. 21:47 she saw when she glanced at the clock. 'Has Robin even got out the bath yet?' Nami wounded when she hadn't heard a peep from the woman.

"Robin?" She called. "Shall I got to the shop for something else to drink?"

"I think I just want to go bed, Nami." Robin's shaky voice sounded through the bathroom door.

"Okay. I'm hear if you need anything." She offered, then went back to her room and got out all her quantitative data to begin her analysis for her Measuring Precipitation project. 'Might as well get it out of the way'.

* * *

The next morning, Nami awoke feeling the toll of her late night study session. Her dull head ache and heavy eye lids were lulling her back to sleep, but there was a delicious smell of bacon and coffee wafting through the apartment that she just couldn't ignore. Nami stretched and groaned, before throwing the covers back and rolling out of bed, and making her way to the kitchen.

"Morning." She lazily greeted her friend.

"Morning. I hope I didn't wake you." Robin apologized. Her familiar smile adorned her lips, though it was not as bright as it used to be. Her eye lids were visibly swollen, and a little pink. 'At least she has stopped crying.' Nami thought optimistically.

Robin was sitting at the table reading what Nami presumed was this morning's paper, with a bacon sandwich next to her, and her steaming mug of coffee in her hand.

"I think it was the bacon." She said through a yawn. Nami poured herself a glass of fresh orange juice, and a mug of coffee and sat down at the table. She quickly flattened her bed hair when she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the door of the microwave.

"Would you describe me as 'Poised, sophisticated, rounded and reserved'?" Robin inquired.

"To a tee." Nami responded, honestly. "Why?"

"I've been looking at rooms to let-"

"Don't you think it is a bit soon for that?" Nami instantly criticized.

"I can't stay here forever, and I can't go back To Franky." Robin explained. "It's just a temporary measure until I get my self together." The smile she gave Nami pleaded with her to not try to sway her against this decision. Nami nodded, then got up to make herself a bacon sandwich.

"The advert says, 'A large double room (18.6m x 26.4m) with 3 piece en suit is currently available for let in the city centre. Apartment is located within a five minute walk from major train station. All bills are included (Gas, water, electricity, service charge, unlimited broadband, TV licence, full TiVo, and council tax).-"

"Sounding pretty good so far!" Nami chirped.

"The room is fully furnished with a king sized bed, 3 fitted wardrobes, 2 dressers, and has its own private balcony. The apartment has all mod' con's, gas hob, GCH throughout, triple glazed windows, and every room is soundproofed. The complex has a fully fitted gym and swimming pool for all residents, free of charge. Room available for 700 bellis pcm. Deposit is 1500 + 1 months rent in advance."

"That sounds a bit too good to be true! Apart from the deposit." Nami said, a little sceptical about the advert.

"Requiring house mate who is poised, sophisticated, rounded and reserved. Male or female, none smoker, well trained pets are welcome. Current house mate is 26, M, professional. Contact live-in landlord Mr Trafalgar."

Robin sat in silence for a moment, watching as Nami checked to see if her breakfast is nearly ready. "What do you think?"

"It's worth checking out for that price." She reasoned.

"I'll give him a quick call now." Robin smiled, then left the table to locate her phone.

* * *

**XD Of course Law would have a room to let! **

**After saying in chapter one that I have no idea where this story is headed, through my migraine on Tuesday night, my brain came up with the entire plot! The whole University thing will really be just a sub plot, with possible random chapters purely about their student shenanigans (me probably trying to attempt to write something funny. I have such a warped sense of humour that I don't think it translates well to paper, so we'll see!). It is definitely a LawNa fic, but won't be all fluffy and romantic, I'm hoping for dark and sexy, so we'll see if I can pull that off! **

**I love Cointreau! Vodka, Cointreau, lime and lemonade. Hmm~ it is a beautiful but deadly drink. I suggest you all try it if you are old enough. Unfortunately, I rarely drink these any more, as vodka turns me into a homicidal bitch and I quite like my friends when I'm sober!**

**21st August 2014**


End file.
